Had an excellent EXCLUSIVE interview yesterday with Kid Rock! He’s chillin’ at his ranch down in Alabama (Roll Tide) and avoiding the crappy winter up in Michigan. We talked about hunting for big game, his new album First Kiss, the mess that is the Grammys and rock, his Chillin’ The Most cruise and being a Grandfather in his mid-40’s! Be listening for the interview on hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus when Kid Rock is Featured Artist of The Week Feb 23-27. We are honored to have had the opportunity to interview Kid Rock, since this is probably one of the few interviews he will be doing behind this record. I can’t even remember the last time we interviewed him! Had to have been in the early 2000’s! Thanks man!….Today, Lou Brutus will be on the hotLine with Sons Of Texas frontman Mark Morales…..Meanwhile, I wasn’t too surprised to read this news. Bullet For My Valentine has parted ways with bassist Jason James. The band said in a statement, “It is with regret that Bullet For My Valentine has to announce that Jay James is no longer a member of the band. Jay has been a part of this band for well over 12 years and part of our lives forever, and we’re gonna miss him as much as we know you guys are too. We wanna wish him all the best and success with whatever he chooses to do next and will always be grateful for his contribution and sacrifices he made for this band.” The group will announce a replacement for James “when we feel the time is right,” adding, “Until then we’re gonna be busy and focused recording our next record and making sure its the best album we’ve ever made.” The band will be entering a studio with producers Colin Richardson and Carl Brown in the coming weeks. As you know, they will be hitting the road this summer with Slipknot, Lamb Of God and Motionless in White. And there is a headlining run that is on the books for Bullet in January. Frontman Matt Tuck told us what is important to Bullet For My Valentine when they’re making a new record: “The big thing that we’ve learned is, like, you’re not gonna please everyone all the time. As long as you do what you want to do and the band is happy and you feel you haven’t given away your integrity, you know, I don’t really care if people go, ‘Oh, it’s not metal enough, it’s not heavy enough.’ It’s like, that’s not what we are.” ….Pulse Of Radio reports the bats may finally be having their revenge on Ozzy Osbourne for defiling a corpse of one of their own species all those years ago. According to the Daily Record, the Prince of Darkness must shell out $27,000 to have a colony of bats removed from his estate in Buckinghamshire, England. The bats were discovered while Ozzy was having the house renovated last May, with work halted until Ozzy could comply with the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats Species Regulations of 2010. A local council has greenlit the bat removal, but a license must be obtained to have them relocated to a different home. The intricate process involved in the relocation will cost roughly $27,400. If Ozzy decided to remove the bats illegally, he could face a fine of around $7,600 per bat or a six-month jail term. Ozzy infamously bit the head off a dead bat 33 years ago at a concert in Des Moines, IA (not to mention a white dove at his record company offices many moons ago as well.) The singer mistakenly thought a fan had thrown a rubber bat onstage, but when he picked it up and chomped down on it, he realized it was real. He had to go for a painful series of rabies shots as a result. While not dealing with his winged nemeses, Ozzy is preparing to headline an event called Ozzfiesta in Riviera Maya, Mexico this May. In addition to a headlining performance from Ozzy, the five-day festival will include a dinner party hosted by Sharon Osbourne, performances by other artists, a q&a session with Ozzy and his band, a Comedy Club Night, a charity golf tournament and more. Also on Ozzy’s agenda for later in the year are a month-long residency in Las Vegas called Hell Gate and a return to the studio with Black Sabbath….I love me some Vinnie Paul! He is the most gracious man! And I love his cooking! And now you can too! The Hellyeah drummer is famous among his own bandmates as well as other acts for his cooking, and now Vinnie has revealed his long-awaited cookbook, tentatively titled Drumming Up An Appetite With Vinnie Paul, will finally see the light of day in 2015. Vinnie said on In The Vault With Shanda Golden, “I’m gonna get it out, I promise, by Christmas this year. About two Christmases in a row have kind of gone by. But we have a big tour coming up in Europe right after (Hellyeah’s current U.S. headlining tour], so that way, I’ll have a lot of time to myself to finish it up.” Vinnie added, “I’ve already got about 125 recipes in it . . . it’s all about cooking and having fun with it. I don’t get too specific about it. But I do think a lot of people think cooking is throwing something in the microwave. And it’s something that you’ve really gotta be passionate about, just like playing an instrument.” Vinnie told us a while back told us about the meals he prepared when Hellyeah recorded at his home studio: “You know, we do the barbecue thing, ribs on the smoker, brisket, fresh zucchini, squash, always got to have a salad. And then we do a lot of Mexican food, you know, fajitas, we do tacos, my mom’s famous enchiladas. We do the stuffed jalapenos, we do all that stuff. And then, you know, we also try to eat health conscious, you know, we do like the cauliflower mashed potatoes.” Mmmmmm!…Talk about a loser! This guy takes the freakin’ cake! AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd will now stand trial beginning on April 21st in New Zealand’s Tauranga District Court, according to the AFP. Rudd was originally scheduled to go to trial this today (Feb 10th) but the date was moved after his lawyer unexpectedly quit the case by what was said to be mutual agreement. Rudd will face a “judge-alone” trial, meaning that he will go before just a single judge with no jury present. Rudd was arrested last November at his home in Tauranga on charges of threatening to kill and possession of methamphetamine and cannabis. A “not guilty” plea to the charges was entered by his lawyer in December. Rudd faces several years in prison if convicted of the charges. Although Rudd played on the new AC/DC album, Rock Or Bust, he did not appear in photos or videos for the disc. One-time AC/DC drummer Chris Slade officially joined the band’s lineup last week for its performance of “Rock Or Bust” & “Highway to Hell” on Sunday night’s (Feb 8th) Grammy Awards telecast. Slade will also be behind the kit for the group’s upcoming world tour… The band Periphery is hitting the hardDriveRadio studios this week! Got a question for the band? Send it in via the Interact Link on the home page or the Interact Live section of the new hardDriveRadio APP! We are getting more and more downloads each week! Reminder: You can listen to the weekend edition of hardDrive with Lou Brutus there, see video interviews, hear Lou’s Rants Of The Day and Poetry Corners from the XL night show, and podcasts of interviews in their entirety! Plus photos, talk to other fans of the shows and more! We also received a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Google! That’s HUGE! So thank you to everyone who already downloaded it and TELL YOUR FRIENDS! It’s free in the app store and Google Play!